Brave Boy
by Zee126
Summary: Being brave does not mean you're not scared. When his only friend becomes a stray dog and everyone else turms against him, Larry feels as if bravery was just something unobtainable. A oneshot concerning Larryboy's or Larry's childhood.


**Another oneshot I wrote during my absence!**

**I got the idea to write this from, what else, music. Seriously, I went from having only one idea for a story that wouldn't even be made out for a oneshot from having about five completely different ideas for stories for three different fandom! XD Lesson is, when you're ****out if ideas, listen to music!**

**The song I based this story off is Shounen Brave, or in English, Boy Brave. Throughout the story, I used all, if not most, of the lyrics from the song, although I twisted around some to make a little more sense. So I suggest listening to Jubyphonic's version of the song while reading t****his, or to be more specific, once you get past the first page break.**

**This was not really meant to be an origin story, really, just something I thought could have happened in Larry's childhood at some point. **

**And now the disclaimer: I don't own Larryboy, or the song, or anything. But seriously, this is fanfiction, its kinda obvious I don't ****own anything.**

**On to the story!**

* * *

**||BRAVE BOY||**

"Leave him alone!" Larry cried, "Stop!"

Larry ran through the crowd of kids in the playground, all of their eyes focusing in one scene.

A gourd older than the rest of them by a year or so laughed along with his group of three tough friends. Larry's yells landed on ignorant ears.

A young pea screamed as a tall carrot sat on him. A red pepper started to cry as a laughing stalk of celery pushed him to the ground made of wood chips. A gruff mushroom yanked a yelling potato up by his shirt.

Larry could not believe it. Why was it like this?

Larry finally ran up to the bullies. "Stop it! You're hurting them!" The other kids "oohed" and gasped, but Larry's heart beat too loud for him to hear it.

The celery of the notorious group smirked. "Why? We're only hurting them for their sad attempts to try to surpass us."

"Yeah," agreed the mushroom, "Punishment for the unjust."

"Punishment? You can't do that!" Larry yelled.

"Yes we can!" the gourd leader of his gang replied, "Consider us the superheroes of this park! We hurt those who don't obey the rules!"

"What rules?" Larry asked.

"The rules that we own this playground after school," said the carrot, "And you can't go against it!

"That's not fair! We can't come here during school!" Larry protested, "And superheroes don't make up rules and hurt those who don't follow them!"

"What do you know?" the gourd said, "You're just some weird kid. Hey, I have an idea." Then turning to his comrades, he said, "Drop these dorks."

The three victims were pushed a few feet away and landed on their faces in the dirt. Larry adjusted his cap as his eyes watched his friends run away. So much for standing up for them.

"You're our next victim!" the gourd poked at Larry, "And let's see...how about...a new rule!"

The gourd turned to face the rest of the startled kids. "If any of you talk to this kid, you will never set foot back in this place ever again! The only reason you may talk to him is to tell him how much of a freak he is! Understand?"

All the kids nodded and ran away, fearing they would be the next victims without second thoughts about the current one.

Larry gulped and began to run away as well until one of the bullies caught him and pulled him back to the ground, causing his hat to fall off. The four laughed as the left Larry there.

Larry picked himself up in the empty park and ran home quickly, afraid of what was to happen next. He knew what he did was right. All the kids...they could not be so scared of the older kids that they would reject him just for their own sake...right?

"What have I gotten myself into...?"

* * *

Larry was wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

A week of torment proved how weak the kids' moral was. Even in school, it was rough.

The hallways were lined with children, yelling insults. They were all watching and jeering like it was a parade consisting of only Larry. And he would run through the parted hallway only to face more in the classrooms. Yet when the teacher would quiet them down, when her back was turned, crumpled papers scribbled black with more taunting found their way on to his desk.

To think that the children only did it because they were threatened is disheartening. Larry did know that a lot of the children were scared, and did it to join the crowd. But which ones actually meant it? Whether it was intentional or not, it hurt the same.

"Leave me alone!" Larry cried out one day in the playground, with him standing alone on one side and the rest of the kids on the other. "Please stop teasing me!" But while Larry shivered in fear, he could not do a thing.

While his pleas landed on deaf ears, Larry asked himself why he was so afraid of being left alone like this, standing alone. It could have been better if he at least tried to stay strong while everyone, including his own friends, did not stand up themselves. Even his friends began to join the teasing.

Why was he not brave to stand by himself? Larry just felt the feeling of bravery itself did not like him.

The rain began to fall, and the storm quickly proved it was a strong one. All the teasing kids left the playground quickly while Larry stood there, feeling to weak to even move. But then the thunder that began echo through the darkened sky urged him to start walking home. After all, his home was far from Bumblyburg. He would have to catch the bus soon or he would be stuck walking all the way.

Standing beneath the roof of the bus stop, Larry shivered, soaked and cold. The roof did little effort as the rain rolled of the rim of the roof and found its way under. Larry looked around to see if there was a better way to find shade, but the tall buildings showed no protection either. There was no one else outside also. But Larry wondered why he heard wet footsteps splashing through the puddles.

Larry turned to see a wet dog pressed up against the glass of the bus stop. Its wet tan fur clung to its large frame. The dog's nose was pressed up against the glass,

and its blank eyes stared at the cucumber on the other side.

"We are the same," Larry thought to himself about the dog, abandoned in the rain. Just like him, indeed.

Larry pressed up against the glass to stare back. His breath began to fog up the glass slightly. The dog looked a little menacing. Was he on the opposite side as well?

"Please," Larry thought to himself, "Please know my pain." Inside, he was begging the dog to understand him.

Larry ran to the other side of the bus stop. Despite the danger, Larry found himself holding the dog tight. He shook as the the dog's fur clung to his soaked face, shivering from the cold of the approaching night.

"You're different, right?" Larry asked the dog, whispering, "You won't bully me and things will be all right."

Larry sat on the cold wet side-walk across from the dog. The dog did not move, telling Larry it trusted him.

"How about you and me be friends?" Larry asked. The dog only licked his face in reply. "Although we don't have to use any words," Larry added. "But even though you can't talk, I still have something to say. But you'll listen, right?"

Larry continued to talk to the dog. Surely the bus will not allow him to take the dog with him. Larry calmed down and decided it would ok, considering his parent's worked in the building not too far from there.

But little did Larry know, he just could not see the tragedy soon to be...

The next days continued like usual, and Larry heard every word thrown at him loud and clear. Larry would continue to walk straight ahead, pretending he was not listen.

"Wow, he's really rotten!"

"Everyone seems to be cheating him. We all left him!"

"He's the worst!"

"Just die, make my day!

Larry kept going with a determined look on his face, looking downwards, away from their faces. But inside he was screaming, on the verge of tears. How can everyone say such things? It was getting out of hand to the point everyone decided to lie about him. They just will not hear what he wanted to say. They did not listen. They did not even try to do anything.

"If I can't talk soon, I'll cry," Larry told himself, running faster to escape the voices he kept picking up.

"Well this is what he gets for holding on," a voice in the corner said, finding it way to him. Larry recognized it to belong to one of his former friend he stood up for in the playground. Was he saying Larry got himself in this mess just for trying to be strong? Like he was being punished now for doing what was right and enduring all that he going through?

These words buried themselves in Larry. So much for trying to keep fighting...

* * *

Larry found himself giving up after another day of the cloudy minds raining insults on him. As if he was soaking through with harsh statements, Larry broke through the crowd of children, wishing to melt away into the sidewalk.

Never to stop listening to the words, he stole what the kids said afterwards when they thought he was out of earshot. What he heard from behind him made him run faster.

So he was the monster who they were not allowed to treat kind.

Larry ran faster, hoping to escape if the kids wanted to follow him. Standing in place would choke him in fear of being found again. He hoped to break the piercing stares that stuck to his back as he blindly looked for a place to hide.

Larry did not realize it until his body broke down from exhaustion. He tripped and landed face first. Larry braced himself, preparing to hit concrete but found himself down in grass.

Larry felt very sore and weak, unable to move anymore. He shut his eyes as he waited for the world to stop spinning. How long was he running? It felt like he just ran for hours without stopping all because he was afraid.

"Grass?" Larry thought to himself as he finally caught his breath, "Where am I? I couldn't have run so far out of the city, couldn't I?"

Larry lifted his head from the grass, standing up slowly. All he saw were grassy hills. Larry spun slowly until he saw the city, a cluster of buildings far off.

Larry imagined himself smacking himself for running into nowhere. He should have paid attention!

Larry began to walk in some direction parallel to the city, circling the landscape he seemed to know, as his house might be here somewhere.

Although Larry was not sure if he wanted to go home either. There was nowhere to escape the words he heard. He was practically traumatized. Larry was scared, seeming as he might be lost. Suddenly, on the hill in front of him emitted a familiar barking sound.

Larry gasped and ran up the hill to meet his very dog, looking for him.

Larry laughed in relief as he hugged his dog, seeing his giant house was in front of him and not too far after all.

"I'm so happy it was you that I found," Larry said out loud, leading his dog to the front door. Seeing that he felt safer when his dog was around, perhaps he would feel better if he brought his dog with him the next day? Yeah. Find a secret place behind school to hide him with

some food ready and then on the way to and from school he could have his friend walking by his side. He did not even need to go to the playground, just skip it and go home to be alone with his dog.

Larry smiled at this idea. There was no need for a leash really, seeing that the dog was more than willing to follow him. So it was settled. The dog would be with him away from home for now on except for inside the school, but Larry could handle it as long as his friend was waiting outside. For now Larry just wanted to cuddle under the covers with his only friend to try to forget what he heard.

But at three o'clock that night, laying awake in bed, he realized he could not forget completely. Larry wiped his silent tears on his pillow case.

* * *

"Here it comes," Larry thought to himself, closing his eyes. His dog sensed his owner's mood and made a muffled moan.

"Here come the voices," Larry thought between the noises of the kids that cornered him, "Someone, please I'm begging. Take me far away from the constant fear. I'm so alone here!"

He could hear laughter right next to his ear when Larry remembered his dog. So he was not alone for once!

But when Larry opened his eyes again, he looked up in horror to see his dog no longer at his side but in the hands of who else but the very bullied themselves that set this whole thing in motion. The previous children, who continued to tease Larry all because of those older kids, backed away in fear and silence.

"Look who we have here," said the gourd leader as the dog whined and barked in the carrot's grasp.

"Hey!" Larry yelled, "Put him down!"

"Its this kid!" said the celery, "I can't believe everyone still bullies you all because we told them to three weeks ago!"

"That's good," the mushroom stated, "No one can stand up to us.

"What is wrong with you?" Larry choked in fear, "Why do you do this to me?"

"Because, this is a lesson for trying to stay strong," said the gourd, "For trying to think that you were better than us."

"But I didn't think say that!" Larry replied, "I was only trying to stop you from hurting others!"

"What tough luck, brave boy. You're not some kind of superhero," said the carrot, "Now what are we to do with this little dog of yours?"

"Put him down!" Larry yelled, getting worried.

"I have a better idea," said the celery, "Follow me, boys!"

"Stop!" Larry yelled as he ran after the bullies with the dog.

Larry tried to keep up with them, with them being much older and faster. "At least I'm trying," Larry told himself. He was not going to sit and cry this time. He was going to pick himself up and leave all the harsh words this time! His friend was in danger.

Larry found the bullies standing over a manhole on the sidewalk. He was horrified to see the tough mushroom miraculously pull the manhole cover off, revealing the hole to the sewers. The carrot began to lower the dog into the hole. The dog began to bark loudly. Larry found himself frozen where he stood, about ten feet away.

"No," Larry gasped, "They...they can't do that!"

He could not believe what was happening. How can some people just think about such terrible things?

"Scared of what they're thinking?" a voice in Larry's head asked, "Maybe you can never be brave and change what's to come?"

Larry started to run without thinking. Was this bravery? His heart pounded and he felt more afraid than ever, with time slipping away and the risk of his beloved dog being dropped into the sewers. He was even risking himself, with the possibility of the bullies hurting him or even throwing him down the hole. What was bravery?

Being brave does not mean you are not scared. But what was bravery?

Larry screamed just as he reached the mouth of the manhole. He got down on his knees as he watched his dog, his only friend at the moment, fall into the manhole and continue to fall into he was out of view. Barks echoed from the manhole until they either grew too distant or were cut off suddenly.

Larry could not hear anything, from the laughs of the bullies to the yells o the nearby police. The hole looked deep and dark, and he was not even sure if there was water down there, but here Larry went, about to jump in after his dog.

A tight grip on his shirt pulled him back, and Larry looked up into the face of an officer. Tears threatened to spill as he looked up into the concerned police man.

"I'm sorry, but we can't let you jump in there," said the officer.

"But my dog," Larry said, "I can't lose him! I'll...I'll be alone! I can't take it, I won't survive alone!"

"Be brave, boy," said the officer, "Be brave."

* * *

A new story.

That was what it seemed to have become.

A new start, a new place, a new chapter, a new time, a new plot, and a new character.

Larry walked home from school alone. His dog was gone a week ago, but somehow he held it together.

"Be brave," resounded in his head. That was all he needed.

Maybe he did not need a friend to stay strong. He just needed to be brave.

Since he was alone, he decided to learn

about being brave. True bravery. And he found out being brave really meant trusting God even though he was scared. So that was what Larry did.

The kids only knew of the tragedy because of rumors. Under the threat of the bullies and fearing to end up in Larry's place, everyone continued the same routine, even though it seemed terrible to hurt Larry when he was actually a nice guy despite the lies.

Be brave. It sounded so easy yet so hard.

So Larry was afraid. But after that day, he knew he had to change everything somehow, and bravery was the key.

And after standing alone in the teasing, he realized and asked himself why he even listened to the words when he really knew they were wrong lies.

And Larry learned he really could be brave after all. And he was never alone the whole time.

So he stood tall and strong in the midst of the children. They noticed it, he could see it in their expression. Now Larry found that he was smiling again, shrugging to himself. He did hear others whispering, wondering why he was happy. And he would answer in his mind that it was because he did not care. He knew he was not going to let them hurt him anymore.

But what about the others? He knew he was the most targeted victim, but he was not the first one to become one. All the kids who teased him unknowingly became victims themselves. Someone had to save them all.

Larry hummed to himself, wondering what was to happen. Then he heard someone crying.

Larry looked around to see he was on the sidewalk next to the park. Sitting under a tree was a girl, helplessly crying there as she wiped her face with a pastel colored blanket.

With a new spur of bravery, Larry ran up to the girl. "Are you ok?"

The girl did not look up, instead laying her blanket on the ground. "Everyone here is so mean. I want to stand up, and a couple of my friends to too, but we are too scared. I mean, if you can't go against the crowd, join them, right?"

"That's not true!" Larry said, "What are you even talking about?"

"All the kids in school here," the girl sniffed, "We are all being pressured to make fun of that kid Larry, the boy the older kids hate and are forcing us to do the same. I heard they killed his dog," the girl looked behind her at the many children at the playground.

"Its terrible to look at. Day after day, it never will end. I dream that this whole world will break to plenty of pieces and I can't do a thing. No one can do a thing! Why?"

"We can do something!" Larry replied, trying to change her mind.

"I'm scared," the girl said, which Larry of course understood. "It hurts," the similar thought Larry knew too well repeated.

Larry thought about what to do. Being himself again, he picked up the girl's blanket and tied it around him like a cape. He smiled a toothy grin. The girl looked up and her eyes grew wide as she recognized Larry.

"Wouldn't it be nice if one day we could be saved like in a fairy tale?" he asked, encouraged.

The girl continued to stare in amazement at what Larry was saying. As for Larry, he felt something new. Not only was he standing up for himself in this, but now he was helping others. Larry was a little unsure about this, but it felt good.

"We can fix this! We can be friends other instead of insulting each other!" Larry said, "I mean, we are all under control of the older kids, but why? We don't have to be mean like they tell us to."

"Really? You think everyone can do that?" the girls asked.

Larry nodded, "We can talk to each other like, 'Yeah, it doesn't matter,' and 'its all all right!' So please just don't cry!"

Larry was too busy encouraging the girl while the blanket he turned in a cape swung behind him when he did not realize the group of kids from the park made a crowd around him. He stopped smiling and looked around.

"Yeah," someone finally spoke up, "That sounds a lot better!"

"I hate being mean!" said someone else.

"We're sorry for betraying you, Larry!" said another kid.

"You're right," a kid chimed in, "You're really brave after all!

"We won't let those bullies control us anymore!"

Larry blinked at all the cheering kids around him. Then he smiled back. At last he could laugh in excitement on the inside. At last their hearts all agreed and were leaving the past.

"Maybe even my heart now that saving others is something closer to brave," Larry muttered to himself.

From that day on, Larry turned every page and moved forward everyday, feeling brave despite the bullies, who only seemed to be a small threat in in the grand scheme of things. It was like he heard those voices that hurt him behind an old door never again.

Larry decided that he wanted to be some sort of hero. Not because that he thought he was really brave, but because he wanted to help others overcome anything, which proved he could be brave.

He could be that hero after all.

**||THE END||**

* * *

**I realize that you can see this as a Larryboy story or a normal Veggietales story. It doesn't matter, I guess.**

**So I hope you enjoyed this nice oneshot!**** If you loved it, feel free to review and check out my other stories and all that self-promotion stuff! :3**

**As for the girl Larry ran into, I just made her some random little girl. Idk I didn't feel like using anyone else canon.**

**BYE!**

**Credits:**

**I used almost all of the song lyrics from the song Boy Brave in this story.**

**Original lyrics by: Jin**

**English lyrics I used: JubyPhonic**

**I think that's it. KagePro**!


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